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Misery Loves Maggody (The Arly Hanks Mysteries #11)
by Joan HessThe madcap citizens of Maggody, Arkansas, descend on Graceland, and a bizarre murder mystery forces police chief Arly Hanks to pay homage to the King. When Chief of Police Arly Hanks came home to Maggody, Arkansas, after a bad divorce, she thought life here would be simpler than it was in New York City. But it&’s been one insane episode after another, and the latest eruption of chaos may just drive poor Arly around the bend. After all, Maggody is more than a town; it&’s a state of mind—and that mind is a bit deranged. When Arly&’s mother, Ruby Bee Hanks, and a few fanatics leave town on a pilgrimage to Graceland, Arly hopes for a few days of peace and quiet. But before you can say, &“Blue Suede Shoes,&” one of the Elvis enthusiasts has been found dead, and the Memphis police are flummoxed by the tourists&’ unique brand of crazy. Arly will have to solve the murder herself because, as she knows all too well, it&’s not insane—it&’s Maggody. The people of Maggody love having a tacky good time, and Elvis-lovers know that there&’s nowhere tackier, or more fun, than Graceland, Tennessee. The madmen of Maggody should fit right in. Misery Loves Maggody is the 11th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
American Gangsters: A True Crime Collection
by T. J. EnglishEnter a world where money, muscle, and murder reign with three true crime books from the New York Times–bestselling author and Edgar Award finalist. Whitey&’s Payback: In this collection of sixteen stories culled from his journalism career, author T. J. English reveals the violent world of crime with in-depth pieces on everything from old-school mobsters to corrupt federal agents—including the most feared gangster in Boston history (and secret FBI informant), James &“Whitey&” Bulger, who vanished for sixteen years before finally being brought to justice. &“Hard-hitting reporting.&” —Anthony Bruno, author of The Iceman The Westies: They were the gang even the Mafia thought twice about fighting—a gang of young, wild Irishmen led by cold-blooded Jimmy Coonan and his loyal gunman Mickey Featherstone who ruled Hell&’s Kitchen with a bloody fist. Their savagery gave them power, but their quick rise would eventually lead to betrayal and their ultimate downfall in this tale of vengeance, ambition, and the last of the Irish Mob in New York. &“A harrowing account of big city crime.&” —Library Journal Born to Kill: This Edgar Award finalist chronicles the rise and fall of the infamous Born to Kill gang, a group of young Vietnamese men raised in the wasteland left by American bombs and napalm who came to New York&’s Chinatown to make a new life, but instead brought death in their wake. Told from the perspective of one gang member who wanted more than a life of bloodshed and testified against his brethren, Born to Kill is a shocking account of the American Dream gone nightmarishly wrong. &“Hard-hitting . . .torrid and fascinating.&” —The Austin Chronicle
American Stranger: A Novel
by David PlanteA daughter of Jewish refugees searches for love and a spiritual home in this novel by the National Book Award–nominated author of Difficult Women. Brought up in a secular household on Manhattan&’s Upper East Side, Nancy Green knows suspiciously little about her parents&’ past. She knows they escaped Germany, avoiding the fate of so many of their fellow Jews during World War II, but the few family heirlooms they brought to the United States are reminders of a lost life that, for Nancy, remains shrouded in mystery. She seeks connection and a sense of belonging, a relationship in which she can find some sort of religious fulfillment. Unfortunately, Nancy&’s first encounter is with a Hasidic man who, dissatisfied with Judaism, has taken vows to become a monk. Then, while studying English literature in Boston, she meets a Catholic boy who captures her interest, but he&’s desperate to escape his overbearing mother and the clutches of the Church. After a devastating breakup, Nancy finally settles down with a husband whose background and beliefs seem at least similar to her own. Perhaps now she&’ll stop yearning for something more, and trade volatility and heartbreak for a sensible, practical life. But forcing a fit—into a society, a sect, a family, or even a marriage—isn&’t easy for anyone, and Nancy still has a long way to travel before she finds her true home. From an acclaimed author of both fiction and memoirs, including National Book Award finalist The Family, American Stranger is a wise and insightful story about the search for identity, and how our real lives are far more complex than our labels. &“Plante . . . is always worth reading.&” —The Washington Post
A Country Year: Living the Questions
by Sue HubbellA &“delightful, witty&” memoir about starting over as a beekeeper in the Ozarks (Library Journal). Alone on a small Missouri farm after a thirty-year marriage, Sue Hubbell found a new love—of the winged, buzzing variety. Left with little but the commercial beekeeping and honey-producing business she started with her husband, Hubbell found solace in the natural world. Then she began to write, challenging herself to tell the absolute truth about her life and the things she cared about. Describing the ups and downs of beekeeping from one springtime to the next, A Country Year transports readers to a different, simpler place. In a series of exquisite vignettes, Hubbell reveals the joys of a life attuned to nature in this heartfelt memoir about life on the land, and of a woman finding her way in middle age. &“Once in a while there comes along a book so calm, so honest, so beautiful that even the most jaded or cynical readers have to say thank you. . . . This is such a book&” (The San Diego Union-Tribune).
Essays: Second Series. --
by Ralph Waldo EmersonThe major works of one of the nineteenth century&’s most influential philosophers In the early days of the American experiment, as the states spread across the continent and the young nation was reshaped by the Industrial Revolution, no intellectual held more power than Ralph Waldo Emerson. The leading light of the Transcendentalists, Emerson spent his life devising a uniquely American philosophy, a worldview as suited to the bustling docks of Boston as it is to the endless expanses of the West. Through lectures, letters, and essays, Emerson helped a nation discover its identity. In this collection, which includes such monumental essays as &“Nature,&” &“Self-Reliance,&” and &“The American Scholar,&” Emerson brilliantly articulates his philosophy of individualism and nonconformity. An inspiration to Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and countless other literary and political figures, Emerson exerted a profound influence that continues to be felt more than a century after his death. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
First You Build a Cloud: And Other Reflections on Physics as a Way of Life
by K. C. ColeThis clearly written and compelling look at physics and physicists offers &“thousands of new ways to see our daily world more richly&” (Douglas Hofstadter, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach). For many of us, physics has always been a thing of mystery and complexity. K. C. Cole, an award-winning science writer, specializes in making its wonders accessible to the everyday reader. This book uses lively prose, metaphors, and anecdotes to allow us to comprehend the nuances of physics: gravity and light, color and shape, quarks and quasars, particles and stars, force and strength. It also shows us how the physical world is so deeply intertwined with the ways we think about culture, poetry, and philosophy, and explores the workings of such legendary scientific minds as Richard Feynman, Victor Weisskopf, brothers Frank Oppenheimer and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Philip Morrison, Vera Kistiakowsky, and Stephen Jay Gould. &“An exemplary science writer . . . For readers without scientific background, Cole gracefully introduces relativity, quantum theory, optics, astrophysics, and other significant disciplines, never getting bogged down in unnecessary explanation. Thus, you may not learn all about thermodynamics from reading her chapter on it, but you will learn enough to think seriously about the entropy in your own life. Cole sprinkles her text with comments from famous scientists—&‘Space is blue, and birds fly in it,&’ said Heisenberg, and Faraday said, &‘Nothing is too wonderful to be true&’—that are not only delightful in themselves but perfectly suited to her own text. No review of Cole&’s book could be too wonderful to be true.&” —Booklist
The Investigation
by Stanislaw LemAn eerie and offbeat mystery by a Kafka Prize–winning author. The case confronting Lieutenant Gregory is not one that a man of Scotland Yard would expect. In fact, it is not one any sane man would care to entertain. Bodies are disappearing. The initial assumption is that a grave robber is roaming London and defiling local morgues. But upon further examination, it seems the deceased are, in fact, resurrecting. As Gregory stumbles his way through the tangled clues, seeking advice from scientific, philosophical, and theological experts alike, he finds himself tossed into a baffling metaphysical puzzle of incomprehensible truths and unbelievable realities. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as &“closer to Kafka than the police precinct house,&” Lem&’s intelligent and puzzling foray into the mystery genre offers an appealing combination of disturbance and delight.
Southern Cross: A John Marshall Tanner Novel (The John Marshall Tanner Mysteries #9)
by Stephen GreenleafJohn Marshall Tanner protects a friend from a gang of white supremacists in Charleston In his long career as a private eye, John Marshall Tanner has stared down a great many evils, but even he cringes at the thought of turning fifty. So when the invitation arrives for his twenty-five-year college reunion, Tanner bites at the chance to feel young again. He expects a weekend of nostalgia, but he will be lucky to get out alive. At the reunion, Tanner reconnects with an old college buddy, Seth Hartman, now a civil rights lawyer in Charleston, a city more divided by racial intolerance than any in the country. After two decades protecting the rights of the black citizens of South Carolina, Hartman has made his share of enemies, and now they want him dead. To assuage his own guilt over sitting out the fight for civil rights, Tanner journeys to Charleston to do battle with men for whom fear is a weapon and hate is a way of life. Southern Cross is the 9th book in the John Marshall Tanner Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Rolling Stone: A Frank Garrett Mystery (The Frank Garrett Mysteries #2)
by Patricia WentworthA Foreign Office agent assumes a dead man&’s identity to infiltrate an international ring of thieves, blackmailers, and murderers Peter Talbot is in Brussels tailing a dangerous con man when the opportunity of a lifetime falls in his lap. His quarry dies, leaving behind a suitcase filled with money, coded messages, a passport, and a cryptic letter about a woman named Maud Millicent Simpson. Reborn as Spike Reilly—a.k.a. James Peter Reilly—a.k.a. Pierre Riel—Talbot follows a twisting trail that leads the undercover operative to an English country estate and into a deadly conspiracy of robbery and murder. Meanwhile, in London, Talbot&’s uncle, Col. Frank Garrett, is probing a string of purloined masterpieces—the latest stolen from the Louvre. Scotland Yard flummoxed, it falls to the Foreign Office to bring the culprits to justice. As the parallel investigations converge, Garrett and his nephew match wits with a cunning and beautiful criminal who&’s a brilliant master of disguise. And soon an innocent woman&’s life is in danger. Patricia Wentworth, author of the Miss Silver Mysteries, combines &“adventure, romance, and mystery&” (Kirkus Reviews) in this stunning crime novel. Rolling Stone is the 2nd book in the Frank Garrett Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Cops and Robbers
by Donald E. WestlakeThe Grand Master of Mystery delivers &“nerve-end-entertainment&” when two of New York&’s finest set out to become two of New York&’s richest (Kirkus Reviews). Tom and Joe have been walking the beat on the mean streets of the Big Apple longer than they can remember—or care to. They&’ve been good cops, protecting the public and holding the line against crime and chaos in a city that has plenty of both. And all they have to show for it is a whole lot of nothing. But now the partners have devised a scheme to make all their dreams come true: the perfect heist. Tom and Joe are going to rob the fat cats on Wall Street for millions and walk away clean. With the right connections and the proper execution, there&’s no way their plan can fail. And that&’s why they&’re so surprised when everything goes totally, hysterically wrong . . . With Cops and Robbers, the three-time Edgar Award–winning author, named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, offers &“another very hot and successful&” novel with &“a siren shrill finale&” (Kirkus Reviews). Praise for Donald E. Westlake &“Westlake has no peer in the realm of comic mystery novelists.&” —San Francisco Chronicle &“No writer can excel Donald E. Westlake.&” —Los Angeles Times
The Collected Novels Volume One: The Group, The Company She Keeps, and Birds of America
by Mary McCarthyThree brilliant novels from a #1 New York Times–bestselling author. Navigating friendship, sex, careers, and the challenges of adulthood, the characters of Mary McCarthy&’s novels remain instantly relatable, whether they&’re living in 1930s New York City or 1960s Paris. Here, three of her most outstanding works are collected in one volume. The Group: This &“witty . . . brilliant&” blockbuster bestseller follows eight privileged girls from their youthful friendship at Vassar through their complicated journeys into womanhood (Cosmopolitan). The Company She Keeps: A &“clever, witty, polished&” novel about a young bohemian&’s daring political and romantic explorations among an intellectual Manhattan social circle (TheNew York Times). Birds of America: In 1964, a shy young student and birdwatcher arrives in Paris to study at the Sorbonne and finds himself disoriented by the rapidly changing world around him. This &“endlessly fascinating novel&” (San Francisco Chronicle) is &“in the same class as Henry James&’s The American and Henry Miller&’s Tropic of Cancer&” (Esquire). Known for her satirical wit and blending of autobiographical detail from her own colorful life into her fiction, McCarthy was a literary icon whose books provide a rich glimpse of mid-twentieth-century America and a psychologically astute, timeless reading experience.
Soul/Mate
by Joyce Carol OatesA lonely widow is romanced by a &“brilliantly portrayed&” pathological killer in this novel by the National Book Award–winning author of them (The New York Times). Dorothea Deverell is a New England art historian working for a Boston museum, resigned to entering middle age alone—until she&’s swept off her feet by the flattery of a charming younger man who calls her his soul mate. Colin Asch is swept away too. He admires Dorothea&’s gentle nature, innate goodness, decency, and acceptance of others without judgment. She&’s nothing at all like the people Colin has met before—and murdered. A self-appointed &“Angel of Death,&” Colin is determined to keep Dorothea happy—by eliminating anyone who gets in the way of his plan. They&’ll be clever kills, untraceable and fast as a knife-slash to the throat. Each one will bring him closer to the woman he loves. And by the time Dorothea discovers what horrors passion has wrought, she&’ll be in so deep, so dark, that giving in might be her only chance of survival. This novel, called &“a hair-raiser&” by Elmore Leonard, comes from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of We Were the Mulvaneys, a four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and recipient of the O. Henry Award, the National Book Award, and the Bram Stoker Award. In Soul/Mate, &“it is clear from the start that we are in Joyce Carol Oates territory, for the book is stamped with her hallmarks—her complex, detailed prose; her fascination with violence; her obsessive concern with rendering not so much action as the way action haunts the hidden consciousness of her characters&” (The New York Times).
The Jake Grafton Collection: The Intruders, The Minotaur, Under Siege, and The Red Horseman (Jake Grafton)
by Stephen CoontsThe hero of the New York Times–bestselling Flight of the Intruder is back in action—&“Stephen Coonts, like Jake Grafton, just keeps getting better&” (Tom Clancy). Navy pilot Jake Grafton took the fight to the enemy in the Vietnam War, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor and becoming a legend in the military community. But now he must navigate life both in the cockpit and in the halls of power as he finds himself on the front lines of a new kind of war . . . The Intruders: In this sequel to Flight of the Intruder, Grafton is stationed in the South Pacific on the USS Columbia, where his new mission is to educate an unruly group of Marines in the art of flying from an aircraft carrier. They better be fast learners, because they&’ll have to work together to survive against an enemy unlike any they&’ve ever faced. &“In the realm of today&’s military fiction, Mr. Coonts&’s The Intruders is as good as they come.&” —The Dallas Morning News The Minotaur: Grafton is heading up a top-secret stealth bomber program at the Pentagon when a series of mysterious deaths occurs, leading him on a manhunt within the US government for a Soviet mole code-named the &“Minotaur.&” If he can&’t find the traitor, Grafton could lose far more than just his career . . . &“Wildly inventive.&” —Ocala Star-Banner Under Siege: In this New York Times bestseller, when a vicious drug lord is captured and brought to Washington, DC, for trial, his fanatically loyal private army prepares to launch an attack on the United States—and its president. The only man who can stop the bloodshed and take down the assassins is Jake Grafton. &“Will keep you glued to your seat on a roller-coaster ride of adventure.&” —USA Today The Red Horseman: As the USSR falls, newly appointed intelligence chief Jake Grafton knows that even as one threat falls, several more are waiting to get their hands on the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. And as he tries to stop a possible Armageddon, someone who is supposed to be on Grafton&’s side is working to make sure he fails. &“Quick-firing excitement, plot, and action . . . Coonts at his best.&” —The Dallas Morning News
The Heir of Douglas: The Scandal That Rocked Eighteenth-Century England
by Lillian de la TorreA sensational account of the Lady Jane Douglas scandal: A penniless Frenchman claimed a title and turned eighteenth-century England upside down. In 1748, Scottish noblewoman Lady Jane Douglas gave birth to twin boys in Paris. Although she and one of the boys died in poverty five years later, her surviving son was heir to one of the greatest fortunes in England, and would become one of the most important men in the empire—if his inheritance were secure. But was Archibald Douglas really Lady Jane&’s son? His mother was fifty at the time of his birth—an incredible circumstance in any century—and if it could be proven that Archibald was adopted, the fortune would pass to another. The Douglas Cause, one of the greatest scandals in English history, a legal case whose twists and turns mesmerized the British public, led the citizens of Edinburgh to riot, and threatened to undermine the very fabric of the empire. Based on six years of research, The Heir of Douglas is the thrilling, definitive account of an astonishing court case, written by a woman who &“knows her way about in the eighteenth century&” (The New York Times).
New York Nocturne: The Return of Miss Lizzie
by Walter SatterthwaitLizzie Borden and Amanda Burton join forces with Dorothy Parker to solve a grisly murder in Prohibition-era New York in this &“assured and witty&” mystery (Publishers Weekly). Sixteen-year-old Amanda Burton is thrilled to be spending the summer in New York City at her glamorous uncle John&’s apartment in the Dakota while her parents are off visiting Tibet. It&’s 1924, the decade is roaring, and she&’s out on the town every night with her father&’s flamboyant younger brother—seeing Broadway shows, going to fancy restaurants and speakeasies, meeting John&’s rich and famous friends, and even an occasional gangster. It&’s all great fun—until the morning she stumbles upon her uncle dead on the floor with a hatchet blade buried in his skull. And with Amanda as the prime murder suspect, the New York City cops consider the case as good as closed. Luckily the hapless teen has an old ally in town: the infamous—albeit acquitted—alleged axe murderess Lizzie Borden. Miss Lizzie and her new pal, the renowned acerbic wit Dorothy Parker, are on the job faster than you can say, &“Forty whacks.&” But trolling the glittering New York night scene and underworld for a killer can be a dangerous occupation for an old lady with a shady past, a sharp-witted literary icon, and a teenager with a history of violently losing relatives—especially when they keep turning up dead bodies.
The Patron Saint of Ugly
by Marie ManillaCatholic lore, American tales, and Sicilian superstition blend in this &“clever, funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming&” novel (Publishers Weekly). Born with unruly red hair, a sharp tongue, and wine-colored marks all over her body—marks that oddly mimick a map of the world and make her subject to endless ridicule—Garnet Ferrari would hardly consider herself blessed. So when an emissary from the Vatican shows up at her door, convinced that her seeming ability to cure the skin ailments of others qualifies her for sainthood, she&’s not quite convinced—or pleased. Garnet sets off on a quest to better understand who she is and where she and her unusual gifts came from. Tracing a twisted path that leads from Sicily to West Virginia, poverty to riches, romance to loss, reality to mythology, Garnet uncovers a truth far more powerful than any dermatological miracle: that the things of which we are most ashamed often become our greatest strengths. &“A cleareyed, touching fable of a girl learning the hard truths about herself and others.&” —Kirkus Reviews
World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made
by Irving HoweThe National Book Award–winning, New York Times–bestselling history of Yiddish-speaking immigrants on the Lower East Side and beyond. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two million Jewish immigrants poured into America, leaving places like Warsaw or the Russian shtetls to pass through Ellis Island and start over in the New World. This is a &“brilliant&” account of their stories (The New York Times). Though some moved on to Philadelphia, Chicago, and other points west, many of these new citizens settled in New York City, especially in Manhattan&’s teeming tenements. Like others before and after, they struggled to hold on to the culture and community they brought from their homelands, all the while striving to escape oppression and find opportunity. They faced poverty and crime, but also experienced the excitement of freedom and previously unimaginable possibilities. Over the course of decades, from the 1880s to the 1920s, they were assimilated into the great melting pot as the Yiddish language slowly gave way to English; work was found in sweatshops; children were sent to both religious and secular schools; and, for the lucky ones, the American dream was attained—if not in the first generation, then by the second or third. Nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, World of Our Fathers explores the many aspects of this time and place in history, from the political to the cultural. In this compelling American story, Irving Howe addresses everything from the story of socialism, the hardships of the ghetto, and the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that killed scores of garment workers to the &“Borscht Belt&” resorts of the Catskills in colorful and dramatic detail. Both meticulously researched and lively, it is &“a stirring evocation of the adventure and trauma of migration&” (Newsweek).
Foggy, Foggy Death (The Captain Heimrich Mysteries)
by Richard Lockridge Frances LockridgeAn overwhelming fog obscures a killer in this Captain Heimrich whodunit from the authors of the &“excellent&” Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries (TheNew Yorker). Capt. M. L. Heimrich of the New York State Police may not have the flash of hard-boiled city detectives, but there&’s no lead the intrepid investigator won&’t follow until his every hunch is satisfied . . . Those of lesser means would jump at the chance to live in a grand estate like High Ridge. But in the dense January fog, the Bromwell family&’s mansion becomes home to a dastardly murder that shocks the whole of Westchester County. When Captain Heimrich is called in to solve the case, he quickly realizes the task set before him won&’t be easy. The timeline of Marta Bromwell&’s death is hazy, and the suspects are many. There&’s the mousy secretary, the indifferent mother-in-law, the motorist with a convenient flat tire, and a thief brazen enough to steal a Cadillac with a fortune in gems stashed in the glove box. Heimrich knows the obvious answer isn&’t always the right one, but as he digs into the Bromwells&’ secrets, someone else in the house is murdered. Now he&’ll have to catch a killer hiding right under his nose . . . Foggy, Foggy Death is the 3rd book in the Captain Heimrich Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Harvest of Fury (The Arizona Saga #2)
by Jeanne WilliamsAn Arizona dynasty built on hope and courage reaps the tragic harvest of the Civil War in the second volume of a Spur Award–winning Western romance trilogy. Patrick O&’Shea, with the help of the Spanish beauty Socorro and Santiago, the son of a Mexican ranchero and his Apache slave, carved the Rancho del Socorro out of the Arizona wilderness. But when the drums of war rolled west, O&’Shea crossed the Great Plains to join the fight against slavery, for he had been a virtual slave, starving in his native Ireland. With O&’Shea gone and Socorro dead from childbirth, Talitha must defend the Rancho del Socorro from vicious raiders and greedy speculators. She longs for the Irishman to return and gaze at her with the same passion she feels for him, but the darkly handsome Marc Revier&’s devotion keeps her strong in these difficult times, even if she&’s unwilling to admit that the man of her dreams may not be the man she needs. For O&’Shea&’s daughter Caterina, true love appears in the form of James, Talitha&’s Apache brother. But when he takes up the cause of his people and becomes the mighty warrior Fierro, he must deny his heart&’s desire and leave Caterina, never knowing that she carries his child. A masterful blend of adventure and romance, Harvest of Fury paints an unforgettable portrait of the brave generation who came of age during a tumultuous and exhilarating chapter in the history of the American Southwest.
The Archy McNally Series Volume One: McNally's Secret, McNally's Luck, and McNally's Risk (The Archy McNally Series)
by Lawrence SandersA playboy PI becomes entangled with passion, murder, and unabashed greed in these three adventures by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author. Privileged bachelor Archy McNally enjoys sipping late-night port with his girlfriend of the moment and tooling around South Florida in his red Miata sports car. Only occasionally does he get around to doing actual work as a part-time investigator for his father&’s law firm. In these three witty novels, he&’s paid to make discreet inquiries for Palm Beach&’s elite—who are rarely what they seem. McNally&’s Secret: When Lady Cynthia Horowitz&’s priceless 1918 US airmail stamps go missing from her plantation-style mansion, McNally unearths a shocking secret that could expose his own family&’s skeletons. His search thrusts him into a thickening maze of sex, scandal, blackmail, and murder. McNally&’s Luck: McNally&’s latest assignment is a simple catnapping. But, as McNally knows, things are rarely as simple as they seem. Soon, the case of the missing foul-tempered, overweight Persian morphs into the murder of a prominent Palm Beach woman. And when McNally uncovers a chilling connection between the two cases, he&’s plunged into a psychological game of cat and mouse. McNally&’s Risk: Checking out the background of a wealthy client&’s prospective daughter-in-law should be easy—but when the people around Theodosia Johnson start being killed off, McNally must expose the murderer. Theodosia herself is the biggest mystery though. And as she sets out to seduce McNally, he&’ll have to orchestrate his own scam to uncover the truth.
Voodoo Planet (Solar Queen #3)
by Andre NortonA gripping story of otherworldly mystery and magic from an acclaimed Grand Master of Fantasy. When Captain Jellico and the crew of the interstellar tramp freighter Solar Queen are invited to visit the planet Khatka by Chief Ranger Asaki, they anticipate a brief respite from the boredom of their mail route. But there is more danger on the verdant jungle world than they know. Founded as a refuge by Earth Africans, Khatka is a global safari where hunters pay big money to pursue the biggest game. But lately Asaki&’s battle against ruthless poachers has been undermined by a vicious witch doctor, Lumbrilo, who takes a mortal dislike to the captain and his men. And when their craft crashes while over wild country, Jellico, Asaki and their friends soon find themselves not only hunted by Khatka&’s lethal fauna, but by Lumbrilo, who sees his chance to get rid of his enemies once and for all . . .Voodoo Planet is the third book in the Solar Queen Series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Landscape of Lies: An Art-World Mystery
by Peter WatsonA mysterious painting holds the clues to a cache of priceless relics in this treasure hunt of &“deepening suspense&” à la The Da Vinci Code (Library Journal). In financial trouble, Isobel Sadler considers selling a painting that&’s been in her family for generations. She can&’t imagine it&’s worth much . . . until someone tries to steal it. Mystified, Isobel turns to art dealer Michael Whiting for advice. He identifies the painting as a sixteenth-century treasure map pointing the way to a series of lost religious artifacts hidden by monks when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. If he and Isobel can decipher the clues in the painting, Michael reasons, her money troubles will disappear. But if they can&’t decode the painting quickly, Michael and Isobel could be history themselves. As they struggle to translate the arcane instructions—laced with references to everything from the Bible to Botticelli—they are stalked by a rival who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the treasure. Peter Watson&’s stylish art-world thriller seamlessly mixes action with &“sustained literariness, refinement, and polish&” (Library Journal).
Swimsuit Body (The Cypress Bay Mysteries #2)
by Eileen GoudgeNew York Times–bestselling author Eileen Goudge blends mystery and romance in a captivating new novel featuring intrepid property manager Tish Ballard, whose client&’s beachfront home becomes a headline-making homicide scene With a Hollywood movie about to start filming in the California seaside town of Cypress Bay, Tish Ballard, owner of Rest Easy Property Management, welcomes her first celebrity tenant. Delilah Ward isn&’t your typical beautiful, spoiled actress; she&’s America&’s sweetheart. Even Tish is charmed by the young star, which makes her gruesome discovery of Delilah&’s bloodied corpse all the more gut-wrenching. When someone near and dear to Tish is named a person of interest, the fearless property manager defies the wishes of her former heartthrob, homicide detective Spence Breedlove, and launches her own investigation—with help from her best friend, Ivy, and her erstwhile sidekick, McGee. But no sooner than she starts rubbing elbows with the movie cast and crew—including Delilah&’s eerily efficient personal assistant, the starlet&’s sexy costar, and the film&’s predatory director—is her own life threatened. With so much at stake, Tish has no choice but to do whatever it takes to lure a crafty killer out of hiding.Swimsuit Body is the 2nd novel in the Cypress Bay Mysteries, which began with Bones and Roses, but the books can be read and enjoyed in any order.
Scimitar
by Ed McBainA sleeper agent travels cross-country to assassinate the president in this terrifying political thriller from the bestselling author of the 87th Precinct series. Sonny Hemkar is a doctor in a rough part of Los Angeles, a resident whose days and nights are an endless parade of bullet wounds, cracked skulls, knife-wielding addicts, and innocent victims who don&’t understand what&’s happening to their neighborhood. Sonny is just as frightened as they are, but he can&’t let it show. The son of Indian immigrants, he&’s dedicated to his studies, and determined to escape this neighborhood before it drags him down. . . . At least, that&’s what he tells women. In reality, Sonny is a Libyan sleeper agent, embedded deep within the United States for a single terrifying purpose: to assassinate President George H. W. Bush. At long last, he gets his call to action, and speeds to New York to carry out his plan. As every law enforcement agent in the country works to protect the president, Sonny sneaks past them all, designing an intricate plan to turn the world upside down. Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Ed McBain delivers a chillingly realistic suspense novel in the tradition of Frederick Forsyth&’s The Day of the Jackal. Scimitar&’s razor-sharp edge cuts right to the bone.
The Devil's Advocate: The Epic Novel of One Man's Fight to Save America from Tyranny
by Taylor CaldwellA revolution is waged against a totalitarian regime in this &“courageous&” novel of a dystopian near-future America by a #1 New York Times–bestselling author (Chicago Tribune). In the heart of Philadelphia, insurgent Andrew Durant has been nursing a festering rage. And he&’s not alone. Through underground networks, he&’s found himself among a secret thousands, building an army called the Minute Men. They&’re readying themselves for war to reclaim what was once America. In the nation now known as the Democracy, independent thought is a thing of the past. The Constitution is waste paper. A conscienceless president has been appointed by the military—for life. The government has co-opted farmland crops. Citizens are divided between two classes: wealthy corporations and the destitute. Areas of the country devastated by war or natural disaster remain unchecked. On behalf of national security, neighbors are instructed to spy on one another. Exposing those who are undemocratic is law. And all dissenters are eliminated. Durant, the chosen agent for the poverty-stricken rural Democracy, finds himself increasingly isolated and afraid. Mobilizing revolutionaries has become a dangerous tactic; the Minute Men have their own traitors, infiltrators assigned to undo everything Durant and his men are fighting to conquer. Now, the rebels have only their beliefs left to trust. A stunning dystopian vision in the tradition of George Orwell&’s 1984 and Ayn Rand&’s Anthem, The Devil&’s Advocate is author Taylor Caldwell&’s &“tour de force&” (Kirkus Reviews). More than a half-century after its original publication, it is timelier than ever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Taylor Caldwell including rare images from the author&’s estate.